Daring Do and the Eye of Bashtaar
by Nightfury991
Summary: Facts can become Myth, and through Myth, they can be passed off as Legends. But there are some Legends out there...that are probably be to just remain as Myth. Most would listen to something like this...Not Daring Do, as we follow her to find she finds one such Legend...
1. Chapter 1

**I know that this isn't my best work, and there are probably better things on FIMfiction, but I tried my best and that's what counts, right?**

**Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 1:

In what could count as a stereotypical, old-fashioned style saloon, where stallion and mares in Stetsons and cowboy boots, sat around tables as the soft piano tune played in the background. Idle chatter filled the saloon, taking sips of apple cider whenever they could. It was almost…absolute.

Though in one, secluded corner of the saloon, away from all the other ponies, sat a lone mare; a Pegasus, to be accurate. Her arylide yellow wings pressed loosely against her sides as she had her forelegs resting on the table. An adventurer's hat atop her mane, tilted forward to keep her eyes and face hidden in shadows.

The sound of old rusted hinges going, the mare slowly turned her head to the side to see who had arrived through the saloon doors. It was a griffon; his head and neck feathers a dark shade of grey, while the rest of his fur and feathers were a darker shade of grey, making it look almost black in colour.

Though he did stand out from the stallions and mares in the rest of saloon, and he did get some questionable glances from the ponies, the griffon ignored them; he brushed past them, heading towards the solitary mare in the corner of the place.

The mare didn't look up until she saw from under her hat that the griffon was sitting opposite her; only then, did she tilt her hat forward. This revealed raspberry red eyes, the front of a six-shaded grey mane.

"So, what you got for me, Sharp Beak?" asked Daring Do, moving the small glass of cider to one side of her as she asked the griffon.

The griffon, letting a slight smirk form on his beak, said, "I think I've found you something you might be quite interesting, Daring," in his light Stalliongradian accent. He slowly reached under the table and, with a light _thud, _put a large, leather-covered book landing on the table; followed by a few scraps of loose, old-looking paper landed on the cover.

Daring Do tiled her hat back slightly, tilting her head to one side as she slowly moved a hoof to open the front cover of the book. But Sharp Beak put a sharpened talon on the book, moving it back so that it was closer to him.

"Ah, ah, ah. Payment," said Sharp Beak, holding out his other talon extended over the table and making a gesture, that simply said, 'Hand it over.'

Daring Do glared at the male griffon with an annoyed glare, but slowly reached a hoof under the table and put a pouch on the table in front of her. She pushed it over to Sharp Beak, the top coming loose and a few golden bits slipping onto the table.

Sharp Beak allowed a smirk to form as he quickly took the pouch, spilling its contents onto the table and counted, making sure that he was being given the right payment. As he did this, Daring Do moved the book over so it sat in front of her, and she carefully opened the front cover and a few pages.

Daring Do carefully turned page after page, pausing for a few seconds to read pages that Sharp Beak had folded for her to look at. Finally, she came across one page that Sharp Beak had marked with a slip of paper that read, _'IMPORTANT'._

"The Eye of…of…What? What does that say? How'd you pronounce that?" asked Daring Do, putting her hoof lightly under the part she was trying to read as she looked up at her griffon contact.

"It's pronounced 'Bashtaar'; it's an old Stalliongrad word, meaning 'Puzzle'," said Sharp Beak, before gesturing to the book again and said, "Read on," as he counted the last of the bits.

Daring Do turns back to look at the book, and lowly read the paragraph under her breath;

'_The Eye of Bashtaar was a relic, thought to be lost during the forming of the Equestrian Nation, which is said to have mysterious, yet powerful, properties.'_

'_Little is known about the Eye of Bashtaar; rumours say that it is a prison of sorts. Thought to hol-'_

"Where's the rest of it?" asked Daring Do, lifting the page up; revealing that the last third of the page she was reading was missing.

Sharp Beak shrugged slightly, saying, "That was how I recovered it; nothing has been lost since I found it," as he pushed the golden bits into the pouch once more and putting it to one side of him.

Daring Do glared at the griffon, though she had to admit to herself; this mystery had caught her attention. And this one seemed to be more challenging than the others she had, but that just made her want to find it all the more. Despite not having all the information she could have wanted, Daring Do knew she had to find it before anypony else got wind of this.

She put a few loose bits on the table where the small glass she had bought, and got to her hooves; closing the book and putting it, along with the other bits of loose paper, into a satchel at her side. "I'm gonna get going," Daring Do muttered to the griffon, tilting her hat forward in anticipation for the sunlight.

"I'll be looking forward to see you returning with the Eye, Daring," said Sharp Beak, a glass of cider arriving for him and a he tipped the mare.

Without another word, Daring Do headed towards the saloon doors and walked out, trying not to attract any attention. But despite this, a couple of stallions on a nearby table tilted their Stetsons back and watched Daring Do leave. They all nodded slightly to one another, as though signalling, before getting to their hooves and headed out of the door again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Daring Do pushed the door open to the house that she would often leave for weeks at a time, and as such, brushed a few cobwebs off of the inner door handle. She then headed over to one of the desks, and after she brushed the layer of dust off, took the book her contact had found for her out of the satchel and lay it on the table.

She opened it once more, laying the scrap pieces of papers, covered with notes, on the side to the large book. Quickly finding the page she had been looking at before, and scanned over it for a second time, taking in anything that she might have missed the first time.

Unfolding one of the scrap pieces of paper, she found it was an old map; looking at it carefully, it appeared to show the location of where this Ring of Bashtaar was supposed to be; a small title was above a dot on the map, reading, 'Temple of the Night.'

'_Odd; never heard of this Temple before,'_ thought Daring Do, flattening the page out carefully, since it appeared that she was going to need it for future references. She read down the pages she had read before, finding a picture of this supposed mystical Ring.

Despite it being old and not that descriptive, Daring Do managed to get a rough picture of what the Ring of Bashtaar was supposed to look like; it appeared to be like a normal ring, though with ring of silver going through the solid gold. There was also a small gem in the silver part, though Daring couldn't tell what kind of gem; whoever had drawn it hadn't put a colour.

In spite of this small annoyance, Daring Do thought that she had gathered a good amount of information to go through with this. But before she left to gather her stuff, she noticed a small scrap of information on the opposite page.

Raising an eyebrow, Daring Do slowly spread the creases out of the paper and looked through this small bit of information that she had somehow managed to overlook. As she read further, she found that it wasn't information _about _this Ring, but it was _linked _to the Ring.

It was about this strange spirit, trickster-like being by the name of Cipher Code, though there wasn't much more in depth detail about him; but there was something about him being rather old, at least since the Forming of Equestria, and maybe even older than that. There was even a picture there that Daring Do thought was this Cipher's cutie mark.

It looked like a triangle, looking like the top of a pyramid, and it had a single eye in the centre of it all. There was a small, thin circle around the pupil of the eye, in a dark shade of gold. But after another once over, Daring Do was sure that there wasn't anything left she hadn't heard.

All she needed to do now was gather her supplies for the trek.

So she headed to gather what she was going to need. Along the way, Daring Do looked up at a portrait that hung above her fireplace. It was of a stallion, who looked rather old but the glint that was painted in his eyes made him look like he was a lot younger in spirit. His coat was a few shades darker than Daring Do's own, and his eyes were a dark brown. He was wearing an adventurer's jacket, as well as a hat that looked like the splitting image of Daring's.

The name _'Treasure Hunter' _in gold underneath the picture.

Daring Do smiled gently up at the portrait, saying, "Been a while since I've had an adventure like this, Granddad," before she headed to a door to collect the stuff she was going to need for this trek.

"Right…" muttered Daring, opening a cupboard door; revealing the content to be nothing out of the ordinary. But she reached a hoof in against the door and felt around until she felt something; a button. She flicked the button, and slowly, the interior of the cupboard (which turned out to just be a flat picture) moved to one side, revealing the _real _interior of the cupboard.

Ropes, Satchel, Compasses. And all the other things that might come in handy for whatever adventure Daring Do might come into contact with. She grabbed a few ropes, a satchel, put the ropes inside the satchel, a quick and easy tent, in that went.

Daring then put the filled satchel to one side, before going back to the book to look over it once more. Since it would be hard to bring the entire book with her on the journey, since it would most likely get ruined or lost, or worse, landing in the wrong hooves, so Daring knew that she had to carry what she could and just remember whatever else she couldn't carry.

Gathering the map, a few loose pages that contained vital information, and another loose paper that had more information about the Ring that Daring Do planned to read more while she was traveling. She then moved back to the satchel and lifted it into her back; making sure to pack a few roles of bandages and splints, just in case.

Looking around the house she was going to be leaving again for who knows how long, making sure she had hidden everything of value in places most ponies wouldn't think of looking. With a final sigh, she looked at the picture of her grandfather, and muttered, "See you next time I'm back, Hunter."

With that, she walked out of the door and closed it behind her, locking it firmly and setting a spare key to one side in the hidden place underneath a bush that was next to her door. She turned, and saw that it was nearly night time.

Sighing in annoyance, Daring Do knew that this wasn't a good start; to her, it was always bad luck to start traveling at the start of a night. But she wasn't going to head back inside; she was just going to have to get started anyway. With her bad omen thinking behind her, Daring Do headed away from her house, and towards what might just be her greatest adventure yet.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

A few days, almost a week, had passed since Daring Do had left civilization behind as she began her search for the Eye of Bashtaar, a mysterious artefact that had got Daring's attention from the moment she had read about it; she wasn't sure if it was the air of mystery around it, or if it was the sense that it had to be discovered by her.

She just wasn't sure what.

Daring had made good headway since she began her journey; she had trekked through the Bad Lands, and had managed to avoid running into any Dragons during her journey, as she headed further and further into the East.

As she headed further into the Western Jungle, pushing a few veins aside as she walked through the heavy, humid and hot jungle, Daring Do took her hat off and wiped the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead since the last time she had wiped her forehead.

That was just fifteen minutes ago.

She set it back atop her head, wiping the top of her mane out of the way of her eyes as she continued on over a tree root, the sound of flies buzzing near her ear. Making an annoyed face, Daring swatted the air next to her right ear, and the buzzing stopped.

Lifting her head up, Daring could see something through the veins and trees that she was started to need; a small oases of water. She checked her satchel at her side; she did need to fill up the water anyway.

With a final check around to make sure that she wasn't about to step on a snake or animal that could give her a nasty bite, Daring waked forward, stepping over rocks, tree stumps and tree roots carefully, watching her every step in detail for any sign of movement.

She reached the watering hole after a few seconds, and as she took her bottle out from the satchel bag and, after making sure that the water was indeed drinkable, began filling her bottle up, she decided to see what holes she could fill in her knowledge about this Cipher character.

Daring took the few bits of paper she was able to take with her out of her satchel and looked them over. From what she was now looking in detail at, Daring read that Cipher was around during the time where the Three Pony Tribes formed the land of Equestria, and seemed to even be around after that for a long time.

She also found that he had a thing for puzzles.

Daring Do thought this was obvious, considering his name. But it also caused Daring Do to think at the same time; if this guy was linked to the Eye of Bashtaar, did that mean it could be a puzzle?

But before she could think about it anymore, a twig snapped to her right.

Tensing up, Daring Do carefully and quietly took her bottle from the water and slipped it back into her satchel. When she heard the sound again, only closer this time, along with the sound of stallion voices, Daring quickly flapped her wings and dived into one of the nearby trees, hiding herself in the thick leafs. She looked down at the ground, keeping an eye out to who was in the jungle as well.

Looking down from her point hiding in the tree, Daring Do saw somepony that made her skin crawl in disgust; Dr. Caballeron, looking just as arrogant and selfish as ever. He called back to somepony, or as it turned out, ponies; a few more stallions walked forward, brushing past larger than life leafs and branches, carrying satchels filled with what looked like tool.

'_Stupid lap ponies,'_ thought Daring Do bitterly to herself, though when she saw another stallion step forward to join the other three, her eyes widened in surprise; she certainly didn't expect to see _him _working with Dr. Caballeron.

His light brown coat came into slight contrast with his dark brown, near the shade of dirt, mane and tail; the former smoothed back slightly, as though he was going on a date. His sharp green eyes flickered at the surrounding area, as though checking for any sort of movement. His horn lighting up in his soft brown, almost an earthy colour, magical aura as he pulled a map out from his jacket pocket and allowed it to float over to Caballeron. This allowed Daring Do to get a glimpse of his Cutie Mark; a gem hovering above a pickaxe.

'_What the hay is he doing here?!' _Daring Do questioned herself; she knew Elusive from previous encounters, and she thought that she knew him better than to side with the likes of Caballeron. Obviously, she didn't know where Elusive's loyalties lay.

Daring Do paused her thoughts for a second when she heard Caballeron telling the other stallions, Elusive including, that they were on the right path for whatever they were looking for. Daring just hoped that they hadn't found information about the Eye….that was the _last _thing that she was going to need…

With that, Daring Do watched the group leave her line of sight; but not before her breath caught in her throat and she stilled herself from any sort of movement when Elusive turned around and looked up; to her, it was like he knew that she was there, because he was looking right in her direction. His gaze lingered for a full minute, and Daring Do was starting to wonder if she would ever be able to move without causing any unneeded attention.

But thankfully, for Daring Do, she was saved by, of all ponies, Dr. Caballeron; he shouted back to Elusive, telling him to get a move on. That broke Elusive from looking up at whatever had caught his attention, and slowly left Daring's line of sight.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Daring Do slowly got down from her position in the trees and safely landed on the ground again, adjusting her hat after it moved slightly from the landing. But Daring Do knew that her hat was the last thing that she should be worried about; this was no longer a simple curious find.

Now, this was a race to get to the Eye before Caballeron and Elusive got to it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Daring Do paced through the jungle, brushing leafs and branches to the sides as she followed behind two ponies that she never expected to be working together; Dr. Caballeron, whose very mention seemed to make Daring's skin crawl in disgust of him calling himself an archaeologist. And Elusive, who Daring thought she knew enough to know that his morels wouldn't let him work with ponies that were the likes of Caballeron.

Obviously, Daring Do was going to need to rethink who she once counted as one of her close friends.

The mare managed to keep her distance from the group in front of her without drawing attention to herself, as well as keeping them without her line of sight, despite the numerous amounts of overgrowth.

But she couldn't shake this uneasy feeling inside her that formed when she was sure that Elusive had spotted her in the tree she had been hiding in upon hearing them. Though what really caught her attention was the fact that they still seemed oblivious to her presence; like Elusive hadn't told the others about her yet. But she couldn't get why…

When nightfall finally came over the area, and the group ahead of her set up camp for the night, Daring Do quietly flew up into a safe-looking tree and set up the hammock she had brought along with her, since carrying a sleeping bag was too big to carry. After she set the hammock up above the tree and safely away from predators, Daring Do quietly moved across the thick branches that could support her weight without creaking and went to see if she could listen in on whatever the group below were talking about.

She could hear the idle chatter going on amongst Elusive and the saddle stallions that carried the stuff; Daring couldn't see Caballeron anywhere, making her think that he was sleeping in one of the tents they had set up while she wasn't watching.

She saw the small fire they had started flare up slightly, indicating that one of the stallions, possibly Elusive, had added more wood to the fire. "Hey, 'lusive, what exactly are we looking for again?" asked one of the stallions, and Daring Do listened closely.

"Fine, Gold, I'll tell you again," said Elusive's voice, and Daring Do heard what could only be the sound of ruffling papers; like Elusive was looking for the right page in some book. She heard Elusive clearing his throat, and looked closely; through a gap in the trees, she saw the Brit-mane-ia Unicorn stallion taking a half sheet of paper from a pocket, and Daring Do could vaguely see a small picture.

"We're looking for a temple in the middle of the jungle, said to not have been entered or even seen for that matter, for nearly 1500 years. It is said that a strange, mystical power surrounds and fills this 'Temple of the Night' on the Full Moon after the Summer Solstice. And then, and I quote, 'The true way to your heart's desire shall be revealed, through the Eye."

"Bad thing is, I've only managed to acquire half of the information that we need; some Griffon somehow managed to get to it before me," added Elusive, and Daring Do knew in that instant that she was going to have a little talk with her contact….

Though something else Elusive said caught her attention; Eye. Daring Do flicked through a few pages that she managed to take with her, she confirmed that he must have been talking about the Eye of Bashtaar; though that confirmed that they were both looking for the same thing.

Daring Do knew that she really did need to collect the other half of the piece of paper for all of the information to be available to her. Even though it was a slightly inconvenience to her, Daring Do knew that that was all it was; the slightest bump in her road to finding the Eye of Bashtaar.

Slowly putting the papers back into her jacket pockets, Daring Do knew she had to turn in earlier if she wanted a good chance of getting up again early enough to wake up before the group below, and possibly even sneak the other half of paper that she needed from their camp.

Daring Do heads back to her hammock along the thick tree branches and slowly got into her hammock, trying not to fall out and give her position away. Luckily, she didn't fall out. Daring tilted her hat forward, slowly dropping off into a light sleep; ready to wake up again at the drop of a hat.

As Daring Do slept, Elusive turned the half sheet of paper over and read the back of it, seeing another picture on the back of it as well as reading something underneath it.

"A trickster spirit…in the form of a pony?" Elusive asked himself, since the other ponies were heading into their separate tents for the night. This left Elusive being the only one up. But this meant that he could look through the stuff of the page that he had somehow managed to miss during his first look over.

"He can be characterised by his strange, sometimes cruel, sense of humour. He also is rumoured to be able to bend the rules of reality to his will, making him a powerful force to be reckoned with. Caution should be stressed when trying to find this Demon," read Elusive, but he was annoyed at the small fact that the page failed to tell him what the name was of the Demon. He tried looking over both sides of the paper again, but found that the name seemed to continue onto the other half of the page that he didn't have.

Sighing, Elusive rubbed his eyes and blinked slowly; he was tired, and maybe he'd be able to find something that he missed because he was tired, and was missing something that might have been in plain sight. Getting to his hooves, Elusive put the half sheet into his pocket and headed into his tent, the fire lighting the area up in its soft glow, while the rest of the area was filled with darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Morning broke through the leafs of the trees above the four tents that sat in a small clearing of the jungle, the embers of a fire at the centre of the four. And above these tents, a Pegasus mare was just waking up from a surprisingly peaceful sleep in a hammock.

Daring Do grabbed her hat before it fell of her head and to the ground. After she'd set it back on her head, Daring looked down beneath the tree she was sleeping in and saw that there wasn't any movement coming from the tents below. So, either the tents were still full of sleeping stallions, or they had moved out already, with Elusive telling them that he knew she was here, and had left their tents as they were to try and throw her off track.

'_Well, only one way to find out,' _thought Daring, flapping her wings and hovering over the hammock before slowly and quietly maneuverer through the trees, trying not to make any noise that may alert them if they were still there. Landing on the ground just outside of the clearing the tents were in, Daring slowly moved a branch from a small tree out of the way to make sure there still wasn't any movement coming from the tents.

After she was sure that there wasn't, she steadily moved closer. Daring was silently hunting; her prey, the half of a page that Elusive claimed to have that she needed to see if it filled gaps in her knowledge. Peeking through the last overgrown leaf that stood between her and the tents, Daring once again checked for signs of life; but the only signs of life in the camp was the dying embers of the fire that sat the centre of the tents.

Daring Do slowly walked into the open, ready to jump back into the bushes away from sight at the drop of a hat. But she didn't need to; the silence that surrounded the camp was almost making the entire area tenser to Daring Do. The mare slowly approached the tents in turn, trying to find which one Elusive might be in. After finding the first two tents had the stallions that Daring Do didn't even know the names of, she eventually found the tent that Elusive was in.

Careful to be quiet, Daring Do pulled the tent flaps open for the tent and slipped in quickly before anything saw her out in the open for too long. Once she was in, Daring Do quickly moved to the side of the interior tent, since Elusive was lying down directly in the centre of the small, personal tent, snoring quietly with a book covering his face; he had been reading most likely before falling asleep.

Daring silently looked around the tent, looking for what might be the half piece of paper Elusive had. She spotted several sheets of paper that could have been, but Daring knew Elusive better; she knew he would want to keep it close to him, for safe keepings. Daring Do examined the area that was around Elusive, and her eyes found it.

The piece of paper that she so sorely needed, was resting on the floor right on behind Elusive's head. Daring sighed silently in annoyance, but she quickly focused on her silent breathing as she slowly maneuverer around anything in the tent that could wake Elusive up. Archaeologist equipment, books resting outside of some case, anything that Daring Do could think that she herself would take on some of her previous adventures.

Once she was literally standing a few inches away from Elusive, the piece of paper almost within her reach; all she had to do was lean over and grab it, simple as that. But she knew that this was the most critical part; it could go either way. Either getting the paper easily and walking out of camp, one step ahead of the group, simple as that. Or…or she'd wake Elusive and she'd have the fight off the stallions, and possibly losing her one chance of getting the rest of what she needed.

Knowing she had to get it before Elusive woke up, Daring took a silent breath in and took her chance; she quickly shot her head forward, grabbed the paper gently between her teeth and pulled her head back, all before Elusive had a chance to even roll onto the cold side of the pillow.

Breathing out a silent sigh of relief, Daring Do quietly slipped the piece of paper into her side pocket before glancing back over the peacefully sleeping Elusive. "Pleasure doing business with you, Elusive," Daring Do whispered under her breath, a smug smirk forming on her muzzle as she tilted her hat slightly; almost as though she was mocking the sleeping stallion.

With that, she slowly headed out of the tent again. Giving the area a quick once over to check whether or not the other stallions were awake or not, Daring Do failed to notice movement behind her as she got out of Elusive's tent.

Just as she got out of the tent and began quickly walking around the remains of the fire, when a sudden shot of white magical aura came from the tent she had just walked out of. It hit her in the back of the head, causing her to lose consciousness and fall to the ground, the paper slipping out of her pocket and her hat falling off.

"_Despertar!"_ said a masculine voice that made Daring's skin crawl; well, it would have if she had been awake. Blinking slowly, the adventurer mare regained consciousness and sat up; rubbing the back of her head, having a feeling that there was going to be a bruise there sooner or later.

But more importantly, she saw that it had been Dr. Caballeron; she immediately tried to get up and land a good punch on him; only to find that she was pinned down to the ground by her hooves, held down by a white magical aura. Looking around, she glared daggers at Elusive, seeing his horn lit up in his magical aura.

Elusive saw the look Daring Do was giving him, and looked to the side slightly, stuffing the piece of paper that Daring Do had tried to steal back into his pocket. The mare looked up at the sky; she must have been out for a while, since it appeared to be midday.

"Now, what do you know about the Ring, senorita?" asked Caballeron, looking smugly at Daring Do, like he thought she was annoyed that he knew about their goal.

But Daring didn't answer his question, saying, "Like I'd tell you anything! You'd just use it for your own end!"

Caballeron just chuckled smugly, before pulling something from something Daring Do only saw at that second; her satchel! She tried to remain cool, acting like she didn't really care for what he was looking for.

The stallion picked a few pieces of paper from her satchel that Daring had brought onto the journey, and looked at it together with the piece that Elusive had brought.

"Cipher?" he asked himself, handing them over for Elusive to have a look. Elusive perked his head up, taking the papers silently as he looked them over; all the while he could feel the burning glare of Daring's look in the side of his head.

"Trickster….cruel sense of humour….pyramid and eye cutie mark…." muttered Elusive, trying to distract himself from the glare. He then nodded, saying, "We've got the information we need," a he felt the glare intensive exponentially.

Dr. Caballeron nodded in satisfaction, before gesturing to Daring and said, "We're taking her with us; can't let her mess up the plans by getting away, can we?" Even though she thought the question was rhetorical, Daring Do could have sworn the question was directly solely at Elusive.

Despite trying to dig her hooves into the ground to at least try and make it more difficult, Daring Do felt her entire body shift involuntarily as Elusive's magic moved her forward after Dr. Caballeron and the other stallions.

"I'll explain later Daring," she heard Elusive whisper under her breath to her, gesturing for her to walk on; Daring glared flaming daggers at him, but she saw a look she knew well in her time of knowing Elusive; that was his look of truth.

Sighing loudly, Daring reluctantly got to her hooves and, with her wings pinned to her sides by Elusive's magic, walked on after the first three stallions, with Elusive bringing up the rear.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

"Alright, it's been later, Elusive. Now; tell me why the buck you're working with the likes of Dr. Caballeron?!" demanded Daring Do in a furious whisper, having been allowed to drop back so she was walking in time with Elusive, with Dr. Caballeron and the other two stallions that she still didn't know the names of, walking in front of them.

Elusive made sure that Dr. Caballeron was too busy looking for the Temple of the Night, before turning back to Daring Do and he explained, "Look, Daring; I know what it might seem when looking from the outside. But, honestly, I'm not working _with _him; I'm just keeping an eye on him."

"I'm doing this to get the Eye before him; if he gets the Eye of Bashtaar before me or you, then who knows what he'll do when he finds his heart's desire. I dread to think what his heart's desire actually is," added Elusive, in an equally quiet voice as to not draw any unwanted attention.

Daring Do glared at Elusive as he had said this, looking to see if he was hiding anything behind a mask of fake emotions, but after a few moments of trying to decipher his emotions, she saw that he wasn't hiding anything from sight; he was being honest.

"We're here," said Dr. Caballeron, stopping just beyond a large, low tree; the stallions caught up, and Daring Do and Elusive, with Elusive's magic still holding Daring's wings against her sides, caught up.

Moving a large branch of the tree aside, Dr. Caballeron smiled darkly at the sight beyond the tree; whereas Daring Do and Elusive's expressions were one of surprise and awe.

Standing in front of the group a good distance away, partly covered by overgrown veins and trees trying to reclaim what ground is rightfully theirs, stood a large temple; the stones, though partly covered in leafs and trees and the other half partly faded, were still visible to be a deep black in colour, looking like they could blend in completely with the night sky.

There were two tiers of the Temple; each side had four faces, the second tier being slightly smaller and shorter than the bottom, larger tier. Daring Do could vaguely see what appeared to be faces of ponies chiselled into the stone blocks, but she couldn't see the details of them.

Dr. Caballeron turned to look at Daring, and looked darkly at her, said, "You're going in there; Elusive's going to keep an eye on you. Can't let you get any information without us knowing, can we, senorita?"

Daring Do glared flaming daggers at the stallion, before she spat, "I'm not taking orders from you; I don't work for, or with, anyone. 'Specially scum like you!"

Dr. Caballeron just shook his head slowly, and Daring Do felt her muzzle unexpectedly forced close by a familiar white magical aura; she knew it was Elusive, though she expected it was because he didn't want her getting into any more trouble than she already was in.

"We'll get going now," said Elusive, adding a bit of force into his words as he glanced over at Daring Do before he walked forward, his magic aura pulling Daring Do forward a few steps before the mare, mumbling gruffly since her muzzle was force close, began walking forward on her own accord.

The two of the headed forward, towards the Temple, and once they were a good distance away from the others, Elusive released Daring's muzzle from his magic but kept her wings pinned to her sides for the time being. "Look, we both know that neither one of us wants Caballeron to get the Eye. So, let's figure this out and make a break for it when we get out of the Temple," suggested Elusive under his breath, glancing back over his shoulder as though making sure that they weren't being followed.

Daring glanced from the Temple to look at Elusive for a second, saying, "Seems like as good a plan as any. Now, let's just get this over with," as they approached the Temple.

Once they reached the very base of the Temple, they both looked up at the sun to see what time it was; it appeared to be at least four o'clock. They only had about five hours left before the full moon.

Daring turned to look at Elusive, and saw that the stallion was taking note of the faces on the second tier of the temple that she herself had seen earlier. Upon closer inspection, there was only one face of a stallion on the second tier. Though the apparently smug look on the face seemed to make her think about it…also think about something her father used to tell her once or twice.

He had told her that a face, 'means one of two things; it either gathered fame through greed or corruption, or the face is a sign of danger.' But Daring never really paid any attention to her father when he had told her that. She thought that he was just being paranoid; she herself thought that faces were only that.

Faces.

Elusive gestured to one face of the temple and the two approached it; when they were directly in front of it, they saw that part of it a collapsed wall and, upon further inspection, the secret door to a secret entrance. Daring lifted her front hooves up and pushed down on the wall, trying to knock more of the wall down.

When she started to struggle, Elusive jumped up and helped her; though Daring Do didn't look at him when he did help. After a bit more of work, the wall started to collapse and soon, the bricks began crumbling to the ground in front of their hooves and in the actual tunnel of the secret passage.

After the dust cloud that had formed when the wall had collapsed dissipated, Daring and Elusive looked into the dark tunnel that led into the Temple of the Night, and through that, the Eye of Bashtaar. They both looked at each other and they both seemed to share the same thought at the exact same time.

This seemed _too _easy.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Daring Do, treasure hunter extraordinaire, and Elusive, archaeologist expert, looked into the depth of the dark tunnel they had discovered. Daring threw a look over her shoulder, making sure Dr. Caballeron hadn't waited for them to discover a way into the temple to knock them out and find the Eye of Bashtaar for his own uses.

Thankfully for her, the 'scum' hadn't followed them, and was still most likely where he had been watching them, waiting for them to bring the Eye of Bashtaar out so he could take it for himself then.

"Ready?" Elusive asked, drawing Daring's attention back to him and the task ahead. She nodded, moving on ahead into the tunnel without giving Elusive another chance to talk. Elusive rolled his eyes, Elusive followed Daring into the secret tunnel; his horn still lit up to keep Daring's wings to her sides, so that acted as a light source.

When Elusive had walked into the temple's secret tunnel, the section they were in was dimly lit up; it revealed the interior walls to be just as black as the exterior ones, though they looked like they had been sanded down so finely that they fit together perfectly; someone had put a lot of time and effort into making this Temple as clean and as perfectly accurate as possible.

But Daring Do wasn't taking any of this in as she was too busy looking where she was stepping; if experience had taught her anything, it was to never trust where you put your hooves. She kept her eyes peeled for any parts of the floor that may look like it was a pressure plate.

"Can you hear that?" asked Elusive suddenly, and Daring Do turned to see what he was talking about.

"Hear what?" she asked, not hearing anything.

"Right there; it's…shh, listen."

"…I don't hear anything, Elusive; c'mon, quit messing around. We've got to find this Eye," said Diego, rolling her eyes in annoyance. Daring didn't have time for this; she didn't want anything to stop her from getting the prize.

Elusive just looked around slowly again, before shaking his head and followed after Daring Do; his horn returning to lighting the way up.

"Wait!"

Daring stuck her hoof in front of Elusive, stopping him from going any further. Elusive looked at her with a puzzled expression, before Daring Do gestured to the floor. Looking closely, Elusive saw what she was pointing out; nearly invisible to the naked eye if not looked at properly, was a razor thin trip wire. Daring Do pointed to the area behind the trip wire, and Elusive saw several other trip wires, all of them at least a hoof's distance apart.

Daring Do then slowly walked forward, stepping between the gaps between the trip wires, and Elusive copying her movements, brightening his magical aura to make sure they took in every detail and to make sure to avoid any other types of traps to catch them out.

They cleared the trip wires, and Daring Do continued down the passage, before Elusive felt the stone give way slightly under his hoof; looking down, he saw that he stupidly put his foot down on a pressure plate.

The floor around him suddenly, and quite literally, dropped; Elusive quickly jerked his hooves forward and gripped the edge of the floor that hadn't given way. He didn't want to look down; he didn't have to. Judging from the heat that was coming up from the ground beneath him, the sudden exposure of more light coming from below him, and the sound of low hissing and bubbling, Elusive knew it was a lava trap.

Daring Do heard a panicked shout and turned sharply, before quickly grabbing onto Elusive's hooves and dragged him up onto solid ground again. Daring looked over the edge before pulling back quickly as a bubble of lava came up to their level, barely missing Daring's face. But it was close enough for her to feel the heat against her face.

Both of them panting slightly from the adrenaline going through their veins, Daring and Elusive both looked at each other and couldn't help but nervously chuckle together. Though it quickly died down and they continued on; Elusive making sure to look where he was stepping with extra caution.

Finally, they reached the end of the corridor; well, Daring Do did first by accidently going on ahead, past Elusive's magical light, and bumped into something solid. When Elusive got closer, Daring Do, rubbing her snout from the sudden and unexpected bump, saw that it was a solid door, which appeared to be a mixture of a strange metal that she hadn't seen before and, strangely, what appeared to be gears that she often saw in old clocks.

"This is really weird," said Elusive, approaching the door and running a hoof over the metal part of the door, his magical light exposing the cobwebs that had formed on the gears; it had obviously been abandoned for a rather long time.

Daring examined the details of the door like Elusive, before her hooves found something on the door that she found odd; it was a small dent in the stone that felt like it was no bigger than a ring, which seemed to lead to all of the gears of the door.

"It needs a key," said Daring Do simply, looking over at Elusive as she took her hat off and examined the dent for the key to get past the door. Elusive looked at where Daring Do was gesturing to.

Suddenly, a few gears on the door shifted slightly, as though suddenly coming to life; Daring Do and Elusive suddenly jumped back, not expecting the movement and sound of old, rusted, metal gears. A small panel slowly opened up at hoof level, and something pushed out; it looked as though something was lazily pushing it out.

It appeared to be a simple black cube, perfectly sanded down on all sides; like it hadn't seen a day since it had been made, while the rest of the Temple had aged drastically since it had been made. Daring Do and Elusive looked at each other before looking down at the cube, before another one joined the first one. This just confused the two ponies even more so.

"_Surprise…"_ whispered a mysterious voice, causing Daring Do and Elusive to frantically look around for the source of the noise. Though they didn't have enough time to try and find it; the floor under them suddenly gave way, causing them both to yelp in surprise.

They tried to stop the momentum, but despite Daring's attempts to fly and Elusive's attempts to use his magic to stop himself, there seemed to be something in this part of the Temple was restricting Elusive's magic and the low height stopped Daring Do from flying high enough. So, as it turned out, they were along for the ride.

The ride ended as soon as it started; they saw light at the end of a tunnel, and soon, they both were flung out of the secret passage and onto earthy ground again. The pair were a bit dizzy and as they tried to get to their hooves, something else shot out of the passage; it was one of the cubes that had come from the door. Daring approached the door and slowly picked it up; but she ducked quickly when something else came flying out from the passage before it suddenly closed, passing Daring and Elusive at a much greater speed than the first one.

"Where'd it go?" asked Elusive, looking back where the cube had gone. But Daring Do was currently more interested in the cube that had landed in front of them.

"What do you think this is?" she asked, turning around to get a response from Elusive.

But the last thing she saw was a flying hoof to her face, before her entire vision went to black.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

"_Levantarse!" _

When the first word she heard since she woke up, Daring Do grit her teeth as she lifted her hoof up; a small bruise on her muzzle from the impact. She glared up at Dr. Caballeron, before seeing one of the other stallions had her hat; which she quickly snatched back.

Setting the hat back atop her head, Daring Do glanced around for Elusive; she found him within a few seconds, though he had his muzzle tied shut and a large bruise on the side of his head, just where the temple was. Daring was sure that the same could be said for the other side.

"So," said Caballeron, pulling something out from his side that Daring couldn't see. "I take it you know what this is?" added the scum of a stallion, pulling one of the black cubes that Daring had found in the Temple of the Night. Speaking of the Night, daring looked up; the night sky was filling the air, the stars carefully dotted around the sky. But the thing she noticed more than anything was the large, full moon.

This was the moment.

Dr. Caballeron seemed to know this as well, as did Elusive. They both looked up at near enough the same time, before something mystical happened.

From the full moon, a stream of soft, white light seemed to flow, slowly heading towards the Temple of the Night; it appeared as though the Temple of the Night had been built in this particular location as to allow this to happen once every Summer Solstice. The moon light slowly narrowed, focusing into a single, solid stream of light towards the very top of the Temple.

The light made contact with the very top stone of the temple, and slowly, through the small, unnoticeable gaps between the bricks when they had been built.

It almost seemed angelic in nature, though Daring had this sinking feeling, in the depths of her stomach, that the nature of what was going on in front of her was anything but angelic.

'_More like Demonic,' _thought Daring to herself, glancing around; she felt her wings weren't restricted, but she wasn't going; not just yet.

Slowly, the light between the brick cracks faded, moving up the to the top of the temple; once it had reached the last piece of the pyramid-like top, something happened to it that Daring couldn't see from this distance.

But whatever it was that happened to the top part of the temple, it caused a sound, similar to the sound of cracking thunder, filled the air, shattering the sounds that one who associate with the sounds of the jungle around them. A stronger, more powerful beam of light shot off from the temple top, and Daring Do knew exactly what this was at last; the Temple of the Night was like a mirror, reflecting the light from the moon to where ever the creator of the monument wanted it to point at.

"Looks like we have our heading," said Caballeron, before he was cut off completely by Daring Do swiftly spreading her wings and bucking Caballeron right in the face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elusive managing to use his magic to free himself and swiftly deal with the other two stallions that had accompanied Caballeron and himself on their expedition.

"Nice," commented Daring quickly, before turning to look at the Temple of the Night in case the light from the top had vanished, for possibly the last time in a long time.

But, luckily, it was still there; still shining just as brightly as when she heard first seen it. She turned her head slightly, trying to get a rough idea of what the light was pointing at.

She needed to step out a bit from the trees and the jungle itself to get a better idea. Or rather, just get a bit higher. Flapping her wings slowly, Daring hovered off the ground for a few seconds before she flapped her wings harder, flying higher to get above the trees.

Once she was above the overgrown trees, bushes and the rest of the jungle, Daring followed the solid ray of light from its start at the Temple of the Night, through the night sky and into the distance. It seemed to head in the direction of a place that she knew well…

"Looks like we're heading to Saddle Arabia," said Daring, landing back on the ground in front of Elusive again. She made sure that he had the cube that they had found in the Temple, before she went to get the other cube that Caballeron had shown Daring when she had come to.

"Ouch!" said Daring, drawing her hoof back sharply; the second that her hoof had touched the cube, it felt as though the surface of the sun itself had been on the cube. After a quick once over of her hoof, Daring concluded that there wasn't any permanent damage to her hoof; though her main concern, or rather, curiosity, that had formed the second she had felt the cube burn.

Not matter how she looked at the cube, it didn't seem to be any different to when she had seen it slide out of the door in the Temple; no difference in the colour, no difference in the size, or the shape. Nothing….it was just as normal as the one Elusive had.

Taking a slow step back from this cube that apparently didn't want to be held, Daring turned back to Elusive and approached him, saying, "We'd better get going before those buckers wake up."

Elusive nodded, using his magic to hogtie the stallions in an impossible to untie knot; even if they did manage to find out how to untie it, it was going to take them a long while to actually do so.

"Shall we get a move on?" asked Elusive, putting the cube that, for some reason, allowed him to handle it while the other one didn't let Daring.

Daring nodded, before she gathered the supplies that had been taken off her when she had first clashed with Caballeron, and headed on past Elusive, heading in the direction to the city of Far Eastern Equestria; Elusive following close behind.

As they left the unconscious Caballeron and his goons, the cube that Daring hadn't been able to touch without burning her hoof was left motionless.

That was, until a small symbol appeared on the side facing the sky; the symbol of a pyramid with a single eye appeared on the side, like a branding, with a light blue glow. A soft, yet dark chuckle could be heard in the air, though it lasted just for a second before it vanished; as though it were a ghost.


End file.
